In 2010 Englishman Adrian Spong, expert art historian, collector and dealer was browsing through the items his local auctioneer had on display. A 19th century landscape watercolour caught his skilled eye. He learnt that the watercolour was part of a five-painting lot. Despite being interested only in the watercolour, he, all the same, began […]

Since ever Frenchmen have been considered dandies. They walked poodles and ate quiche. However, for the past few years Frenchman have been trying to appear manlier. Thus, now they rather walk Rottweilers and tuck into a hamburger and fries, eating with their hands. But, last week the French weekly news magazine Le Point revealed that […]

Each year in August Paris remembers those brave men and women who were slain in the 1944 fighting to liberate France from German Occupation. One sees all through the southern part of Paris plaques where a soldier or civilian had been slain by a German bullet or bomb, and each August the Paris […]

Ten years ago I planned to write a book about the death of Princess Diana. I wrote a 55-page proposal for the book. And what happened? The publishers, all of them in the U.K. informed me that they could not offer me publication because they could not protect me, and because of the book I […]

At No. 38 Rue du Pain in the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye is situated the town’s tourist office. It is a narrow, upright building, no different from any others on the long and narrow street. However, upstairs on the first floor is a two-room museum: the Debussy Museum. Entry to the museum is free which […]

The mere name – Impressionist Island – Ile des Impressionnists – makes one think ‘art’. Makes one think ‘Monet … Manet … Pissarro … Paris, City of Light … Paris City of Art …’ If you have never been to this island, then I saw much recommend that you do go there. And why not […]

For just € 7 ($ 8.20 / £6.25) for an adult you will have a most interesting time visiting the Galeries d’Anatomie Comparée et de Paléontologie (Paleontology Museum) in Paris’s Jardin des Plantes. There are more than 2500 fossils of which 650 are complete skeletons and 1000 are specimens preserved in fluid. Not all of […]

There is no fee for a walk around Paris’s Jardin des Plantes, and I assure you that you will pass a few most pleasant hours there. Just walking around, admiring the flowers, and the statues too, and you can always stop at one of the many open-air cafes for a snack or a nice Parisian […]

Fifty-five kilometres (34 miles) south-east from Paris is the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte. The mere name sounds exquisite. I have twice visited the chateau, and once its park. My last visit which was on Tuesday, July 18 this year (2017), happened to be the hottest day of this summer, so I skipped the park. Believe me, […]

On July 16 and 17 – Sunday and Monday – this year of 2017, France commemorates what was, for the French, the most horrendous episode of WW2. But only after the war had been, had ended, and they thought back to the years from June 1940 to August 1944 when Nazi Germany occupied France, in […]

Do you want to spend a really interesting couple of hours in a Paris museum? Of course, you would! Therefore, Paris’s Musée de la Préfecture de Police – the Police Museum – is the place for you. The museum in Paris’s 5th arrondissement (district) looks quite antisocial when standing in front of No. 4 rue […]

A young man and woman, both in their early twenties, and both partially clothed, started to make love, lying on the ground in front of the townhall of the town of Cherbourg. It was 8 o’clock in the morning of Sunday, June 25. It being a Sunday there were still few people about. However those […]

The law on prostitution is ambiguous here in France. A woman can take payment for sex, but no other person is to benefit from it. In other words, pimping is illegal. So too is a brothel. So too is paying a woman for sex. In other words, a man caught paying a woman […]

This year – Thursday, August 31, 2017 – it will be remembered worldwide that on that day in 1997, twenty years into the past, a Mercedes S280, bearing the number plate 688 LTV 75, smashed into one of the pillars supporting the overpass of a Paris tunnel, the Pont Alma underpass. Nothing unusual about […]

All hell has broken out in London, yet, Paris this morning of Sunday, June 4, 2017, is a haven of peace. Probably the way Jesus of Nazareth envisaged a Christian day of rest should be. I walked around Paris’s beautiful Montsouris Park this morning. Lots of couples out in the park with their small children. […]